The New York Mets carry a big payroll, and add it to that of the Los Angeles Dodgers and you get an even bigger number.
The term “big money” baseball usually means playoff games or huge battles down the stretch, but when the New York Mets take the field against the Los Angeles Dodgers tonight, the term will take on a whole new meaning.
That meaning is all about the money, of course. The Mets will come into this one lugging a payroll of $375 million, according to ESPN, while the Dodgers, of course, lea the league in this category with a payroll of $412.5 million. Add in the competitive balance tax, and the total jumps to $1.07 billion.
What these two teams get for their money is very different, of course. The Dodgers come into this series as back-to-back World Series winners, and they already lead the NL West by a game-and-a half over the San Diego Padres. The Mets are just under .500, so owner Steve Cohen has been overpaying for some very shabby performances in the last year or so.
The ESPN report also unearthed some amazing factoids about the money these two teams are paying. The Dodgers payroll is more than that of the bottom four spenders—the Chicago White Sox, Tampa Bay Rays, Cleveland Guardians and Miami Marlins. The Mets payroll, meanwhile, exceeds that of the White Sox, Cleveland and Tampa Bay.
Here’s another fun one. The AAV to pay the four stars paid the most on these two teams—i.e., outfielder Juan Soto, two-way wonder Shohei Ohtani, outfielder Kyle Tucker and infielder Bo Bichette, is more than the total payroll of 14 teams and within $400K of the Seattle Mariners.
The New York Yankees are the only team besides the Mets with a payroll within $100 million of the Dodgers this season, while the Philadelphia Phillies rank fourth in MLB with a payroll of $312.7 million, which is just over $100 million shy of the Dodgers.
The Dodgers and Mets have ranked 1-2 in payroll four times since 2022, with 2023 being the only exception as the Mets led MLB and the Dodgers dropped to fourth.
All of this money is a big part of the reason the Mets are taking so much heat from the New York and national media coming into this series, as they’ll take a five-game losing streak into tonight’s game. This is the first genuine big week of the series for the Mets, who have been struggling offensively so far, with many of their high-salary stars being the main reason why.